The Great Omaha Pillow Fight

By Alexander Anton

The Great Omaha Pillow Fight

Pillow fights aren’t just for little kids anymore. This Sunday, Omaha was host to its second annual pillow fight in Memorial Park, just a skip away from U. Nebraska-Omaha.

The continuous rain wasn’t enough to keep away eager combatants – some came in costume, some came in war paint. But they all had one thing in common: an intense desire to hit each other with pillows.

“Stuff like this never happened before in Omaha, but it did in bigger cities,” said event organizer John Cady. “So I decided to start it here.”

At the sound of Cady’s air horn, the mob converged and the pillows began to fly. Participants battered each other until Cady sounded his horn, ending the first round. After a short break round 2 began and battle cries were heard again as the fierce pillow fighters charged into battle.

As the brawl continued, some ended up taking it a bit too seriously, and one real fight had to be broken up. Despite this, most of the participants left the arena soaked and with huge smiles on their faces. This type of event, sometimes called a flash mob, was organized by Cady and spread through Facebook.

“We heard about the event from Facebook,” said Kegan Kegley, 18. “It was a lot of fun, but maybe a little too short, and sometimes a little rough.”

While those present were mostly teenagers and college students, fighters of all ages were involved in the scuffle.

“My sister’s boyfriend wanted to come, and it sounded fun.” said Ellie, a middle school-aged girl who came with her friends and younger brother.

Similar fights have been banned in other states – in San Francisco, it cost the city nearly $20,000 to clean feathers from clogged drains.

Thankfully this year, most players left their feather pillows at home.

When asked if there would be an Omaha pillow fight next year, Cady didn’t hesitate to answer.

“Absolutely, we’ll be doing this every year,” he said. “It’s too fun not to.”

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